Often misunderstood and overlooked in favor of later albums, PE's debut album is the truth, and it's high time for a revisit. When a former-favorite artist gets burnt out, played out, or otherwise sullied in your mind's group of listenable music, you can almost always return to their early work for salvation, and Yo! Bumrush The Show is the mind melting (slight) mess that I look to for a Public Enemy fix. They hadn't quite figured their whole "PE" thing out yet, and rather than the full blown power of their next couple albums, you get these amazing blasts of raw energy. If It Takes A Nation... is a monumental, polished war machine, Yo! Bum Rush The Show is a buckshot spraying sawed off with hazy motives. People throw the word "crack" around an awful lot lately, but take a note of the original product people. "Public Enemy #1"? "You're Gonna Get Yours"? Rolling on any motherfucker in sight. Like most people, I remember thinking there was too much noise + droning on this album when I first heard it, but that's exactly what I like about it now. "Miuzi Weighs A Ton," "Time Bomb," "Megablast," just look at the song titles and you know what you're getting into here. People either got it (and felt like their toes had just been blown off by a lighting bolt), or made a face and said "I can't dance to this." This was not LL or the Beastie Boys, this was the rawest shit on the face of the planet. Still is.

• black vinyl pressing
• printed insert
• original release year: 1987
• music label: Def Jam 2014

reviewed by the mgmnt 09/2006